LeinevsLesbeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Leine” and “Lesbe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,763
“Leine” frequency rank
#39,511
“Lesbe” frequency rank
49274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Leine Lesbe
Definition längere feste Schnur, an der etwas festgemacht wird oder mit der etwas festgemacht wird; dünnes Seil Frau, die homosexuelle Neigungen besitzt, lesbisch ist

Where the eye mixes Leine and Lesbe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Leine
5 ch
Lesbe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Leine ([ˈlaɪ̯nə]) and Lesbe ([ˈlɛsbə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Leine is recorded at frequency rank #9,763, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɪ̯nə]. Lesbe is at rank #39,511, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛsbə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 49274, this pair ranks #1,217,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Leine vs Lesbe

Shared letters: el. Private to "Leine": in. Private to "Lesbe": bs.

"Leine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Lesbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Leineeline · leien · leinne · lenie · liene · lleine
  • Lesbeelsbe · lebse · lesbbe · leseb · lessbe · llesbe · lsebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Leine" and "Lesbe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaɪ̯nə] versus [ˈlɛsbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Leine" or "Lesbe"?
"Leine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,763 in our German list, against #39,511 for "Lesbe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Leine" and "Lesbe". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Leine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lesbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,217,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Leine" and "Lesbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Leibes vs Lesbe". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list